For reasons that I'll never be able to explain, I managed to wake up the morning of our checkout day at around 7:00am, even after the long day/night at Tomorrowland. While confused about how the hell I woke up, I used the extra few hours to plan the next part of my trip. I knew that I was eventually heading east, into Germany, but I wanted to spend a day or two more in Belgium, as I had actually really enjoyed Brussels for the little time I spent there.
I ended up finding a small city called Genk in Belgium, which is a few kilometers away from the German border. It was also next to a national park, so I decided is was as good of a place as any to spend two days. I booked an AirBnB for that night, and then used the rest of the morning to shower and pack my stuff.
Once Federico was ready to go, we headed to the train station to say our goodbyes. We hugged, got a random stranger to take our picture, and that was that. I had all day to spend in Brussels before heading to Genk, so I dropped by bags off at the hostel for the day, and began to roam around. I went to the Grand Place square, and sat there for a while enjoying the amazing architecture around me. It is one of the most remarkable squares I have ever seen, and I could have literally spent all day there if I had had a more comfortable place to sit.
Instead, once my butt had fallen asleep, I got up and decided to walk around a little more. I explored some of the smaller streets, kind of getting lost in the process, before finding a small bar to sit at. I ordered a random beer off the tap (Belgium has very good beer), and waited for my drink to arrive. The menu had called the beer a "cherry" beer, which I had presumed was a bad translation for an amber beer.
But no, it was cherry.
Known as a Kriek beer, the beer I ordered was probably the sweetest drink I have ever had. Unlike a normal beer, Kriek beers are very fizzy which basically makes you think you are drinking soda. I would compare the taste to a carbonated version of the cherries they put on top of sundaes. I could only take tiny sips at a time, so it took me about an hour to finish the drink.
From there, I decided I had gotten my fill of Brussels, so I picked up my bags and headed to the train station to go to Genk. The train took about two hours, and while the train was close to full when I got on, I was basically the only person left on the the train when it reached Genk (which gives you a bit of an idea of how boring of a place Genk was). I hopped off the train, and immediately onto a bus that would take me to my AirBnB.
Once I arrived, I was greeted by my host Ilse and her four Whippets (mini greyhounds) and two Sphinx (hairless) cats. Needless to say Ilse was a little odd, but incredibly nice. After throwing a load of laundry into the wash, I settled into my room and started doing some research of what I wanted to do for the next few days.
I unfortunately discovered that the national park that I wanted to go to in Genk would take about 6 busses and several hours of commute, since the airBnB and national park were on opposite sides of Genk. Instead, I found a nearby lake with a public beach, and decided that is where I would go the following day. I then planned out where I would be going in Germany, and booked a two night stay in a hostel in Cologne, which would be my first stop.
The next morning, after a good nights rest, I headed out on the two mile walk to the lake. After thinking that I had gotten lost, I basically stumbled upon the lake, and found a nice shady spot to put my stuff down on and relax. I popped in my headphones, laid down, and watched the clouds go by. I must have laid there for several hours, because by the time I got up to go, I didn't recognize any of the other people sitting around me.
On my way back I went in search of a supermarket to buy some food, as my daily supply of bread and cheese had run out. I found a few different stores, but since it was Sunday, there were all closed. I cut my losses and stopped at a local fast food place, got a quick bite to eat, then headed back to the house.
As I was getting ready for bed, I got a message from Toby, Leo's younger brother. I had contacted him earlier, since I knew he would be in Europe/Belgium around the same time as I would. He mentioned that he would be getting into Brussels around 3:00pm tomorrow, and wanted to know if I wanted to get lunch with him and his friend. I was in no rush to get to Cologne the next day, so I was happy to go back to Brussels for the day.
The next morning my AirBnB host offered to give me a ride to the train station at around 9:00am. We quickly stopped at the supermarket (which was now open), I bought some more bread and cheese, and then we were on our way. I got on the first train to Brussels, which got me to the city at around 11:30am. I had a few hours before Toby got there, so I headed back to the Grand Place square, and sat for a while. I got a little restless, so I headed up to a local park near the train station, which had some nice quiet benches to sit on and relax. I stayed there for a while until Toby arrived, and I met him and his friend Gilles at the train station. We walked around the city for a bit, before heading to Delirium for a beer.
This time, I avoided the Kriek beers, and instead opted for a dark beer. If I recall it was called a Kasteel Donkel, and it was delicious. It had this amazing chocolatey aftertaste that just made me want to keep drinking. Once we finished our beers, I figured it was probably best to head to Cologne (which was about a 3 hour train ride away), so we headed back to the train station to say our goodbyes.
After parting ways, I bought a ticket for the last train to Cologne, which was leaving about 45 minutes later. It was leaving from a different station in Brussels, but the person who sold me the ticket said I could take any train not on line 4, and it would stop at the station where I needed to go. I must have misheard, because when I got onto the first train I saw, it most certainly did not stop at the station I needed to go to. By the time I realizedI was going in the wrong direction, I was about 20 minutes outside of the city.
I quickly hopped off the train and got on another one that was heading back in the right direction. This one did stop at the correct station, and I got there with about five minutes before my train to Cologne was set to leave. I frantically looked for a sign to show me which line my train was on, but by the time I finally found my train it was too late. I stood on the platform, stunned that I had managed to miss my train, and was approached by one of the attendants. He directed me to a desk that would help me figure out what to do. After determining that the train I missed was literally the last train going to Germany, they rescheduled my ticket for the next morning, and told me to try to find a hostel nearby. I quickly found a super cheap hostel about 5 minutes from the train station, and headed over there.
While there, I contacted the hostel I was supposed to be staying in that night in Cologne, and they were kind enough to cancel one of my two nights there for free. All in all, I ended up saving a few Euros by missing my train, since the hostel I stayed in that night was cheaper than the one in Cologne. Cool.
The next morning I headed back to the train station, this time making sure that I had plenty of time to find my train. I quickly found the right platform, and hung out for a few minutes while I waited for my train to arrive. Once it got there, I hopped on and found a seat, where I almost immediately fell asleep. For the next couple hours I was in and out of consciousness, nearly causing me to miss my stop. Luckily I didn't, so I had finally made it to Cologne.
The first thing you see when stepping out of the train station is a massive cathedral called Kolner Dom. While usually I get pretty bored with cathedrals, as they are all over the place in Europe, this one was definitely something special. I walked around inside for a while, and after dropping my bags off at my hostel, I headed back to the cathedral to climb up the tower.
The top of the tower is 100 meters tall, or about 330 feet. It takes 537 steps up a narrow spiral staircase to get to the top. Once at the top you are greeted with a fantastic 360 degree view of the city, and I spent a little while just walking around the top of the tower enjoying the view.
Afterwards, I headed to a local crepe place, and ordered a random crepe off the menu. It ended up having salami, salmon, and mushrooms in it, and it was delicious. From there, I walked around for a little bit, bought some pasta and sauce from a supermarket, and then headed back to my hostel. After making a nice dinner, I found a campsite that was known for stargazing just outside of Frankfurt. I decided that if I could figure out a way to get down there (it was about 80km, 50 miles, from Cologne), I would spend a night there to enjoy some stargazing. I looked at a few option for transportation, and decided to look into them more the next day.
The next morning I headed to my first option: a scooter rental place. I talked with the clerk, and quickly found out that renting a scooter was probably way too easy. Within 20 minutes, papers were signed, a deposit was given, and I was handed key to a scooter that had a top speed of around 100kph, or 65mph. After literally having to ask the guy how to work the thing, I hopped on my new ride, and drove around some back streets for a little to get a hang of how the bike handled. It was incredibly easy, so after a few minutes I headed back to my hostel to prepare for my trip to the campsite.
I packed a few clothes into my backpack, bought a couple things to eat, and plugged in the directions to the campsite on my phone. I realized that I wouldn't exactly be able to look at my phone as I was driving, so it presented a decent challenge in figuring out where the hell I needed to be going. I ended up having to just pull over every couple miles and check to make sure I was still going in the right direction.
After several wrong turns and probably an extra 20 minutes to my drive, I finally made it to the campsite. I got a cabin, dropped off my stuff, and headed to the nearby lake to scope out the surroundings so I could find a good place to stargaze that night. I found a nice spot, relaxed there for a while, before heading back to my cabin to take a nap so I would be awake that night. When I woke up around 11:00pm, I was dismayed to see that it was an overcast night, so there were no stars in sight.
So that's where I am now. Sitting in my cabin at 1:00am writing this blog post, disappointed that I can't go look at some stars. I am only here for the night, since I have to go back to Cologne to return the scooter tomorrow. While I haven't actually booked anything yet, I plan to head north after this, and stay a few nights in Hamburg. From there I might do a day excursion to Copenhagen, depending on how long the ferry ride would take. Afterwards I'll head to Berlin for a few days, before ultimately going to Wroclaw to meet up with Goda, Dora, and Dora's cousin to watch the World Junior Ultimate Championship (WJUC).
If anyone has any suggestions of activities to do, or things to see while I'm in Germany, I'm all ears.
Thanks for reading,
Ben
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